The Belmont - HERE WE GO!!!

[guinevere]

OK, I'm a nervous wreck. I usually join the race coverage right befroe they horses go to the post, but I'm watching the whole thing today. I was tearing up while they did the little Smarty Jones recap at the beginning!


GO SMARTY JONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

guinevere

 

[A.H.Black]

On ESPN, Kenny Mayne came back from a break to tell the world that he had gone to the men's room during the break and the stands at the Belmont are so crowded that women have taken to freely using the men's room because the lines for the ladies room are so long.

Oh well.

 

[guinevere]

Good for them!

The incident with Caiman kicking the trainer's son was pretty scary.

So close............... !

 

[guinevere]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[BronzeisGolden]

You beat me, Guinevere. But I will add my collective....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I really wanted Smarty Jones to win. It would have been such a magical moment.

 

[NJSk8Fan]

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever sat down to watch a horse race....Smarty had such a lead.......but he just couldn't pull it off....Congratulations Birdstone.

 

[Piel]

What an exciting race. Too bad for Smarty.

 

[bronxgirl]

Birdstone?

I still love you Smarty.

 

[guinevere]

I'm super disappointed for Smarty, but that was a great race.

guinevere

 

[sk8ing_lady2001]

I am so sad right now. Poor Smarty Jones. It's not like he has passed away (which he hasn't yet) or anything, but I want to cry right now.

 

[guinevere]

I feel like I just watched the Ladies Free program of the 1998 Olympics...

 

[show 42]

That was some race. My heart was in my throat the whole time. Like any great champion, Smarty will be back to win another day.......42

 

[Mathman]

I thought it was weird how Birdstone's people were so sad and apologetic about winning. Like if Sarah Hughes had said, oh I am such an awful person for beating Michelle.

The odds on Smarty were 1 to 5 (not 5 to 1!), so a bet of $2.00 would only have brought you 40 cents. (Birdstone, at 36 to 1, paid $74 on a $2 bet.) The only place in sports where you can get shorter odds is to take the Lakers at 1 to 6 against the underdog Pistons, LOL.

Mathman

 

[bronxgirl]

It hasn't been 26 years since the last time there was an NBA championship. There were just so many "warm and fuzzy" parts to the Smarty story that horse racing needed. It's hard to warm up to a sport that traditionally has been dominated by people of extreme wealth and horses of premium bloodlines. I think that's why Funny Cide and Smarty were so popular - the casual fan could actually relate to the owners, the trainer, even the horse.

I heard somewhere on the news that more money had been bet on Smarty than on any other horse in American racing history. That's a lot of recyclable paper out there now.